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V A. 00m. PROTECTIVE MECHANTSM FOR STEAM AUTOMOBlLE POWER PLANTS.

APPLICA ION FILED AUGTZYI T917.

m m m ll. N mrblp 94m v fww E dmkud kmcw A. DOBLE. PROTECTIVE MECHANISM FOR STEAM AUTOMOBILE POWER PLANTS.

APPUCATiON FILED AUG.27|1917- Ow w 11 h u mmz m m m v win {implication fi'lecl August 2?, 191?.

To all 'wJwm may some?" Be it lme'wn that I, ABNER Domes, a citizen. of the United States of America, and resident of Detroit, Wayne county, Iiiichigen, heqe invented a. certain. new and useful Improvement in Protective Mechanism :lfor Steam-Automobile Power Fleets, of which the following is a specification.

My hive/mi n relates to iiiiprevements in protective devices for ihe power pients of steam driven automobiles.

My object is to provide on impi'ovecl automstic mecl enism responsive to abnormal.

. conditions in the power plant of the vehicle hinetion and arrangement, of l".'

for renclering'the power plant less operative or discontinuing its operation pending the westoration Oilfi'llOIlllfil conditions, my pue pose further being to provide mechanism of this char-acts which will he simple, (iumhle and reliable in construction, and eiiective and efficient in operation? Other objects of my invention hereineftei:

My invention consists in the features of novelty'exempliiied by the construction, comdescribed, shown in me accompanying ch'ww ing and more particularly set forth. in the appended claims.

Referring to the accompanying ihgsz-- Figure 1 is a v'rtic secfiional View an automobile g iei'ziioi' fuel hurners and combustion cheml o Wl ch my iiivention is illusci'eieci as being on ioilied.

Fig. 2 a tifieiisveise veizlviczzi section on the line 52-42 of Fig. 1. I

Fig. 3 is enlarged detail sect on of the short section portion of the es crater, gcthcr with the pressure cpeieteci mechanism and the cutoff switch mechanism.

Fig. 4-

e vie v of lhe cut-e witch n'iechanism, the co V01 being in section to qiisclose the interior operating; pa 1 The steam generate"; illustietes will s peaa in ih e drawings and in connection w th which i will describe my invention is designeo for the repifl production of high pressure steam for use as the propelling force for vehicles such as mitomehiles. This genomic? is ice inher designed to develop ezncunl of power within The confines of she compasstively small we; limii'e i semis-ted; 12oz:

Specification of Letters Tiaten'c.

MICHIGAN, A GGLEQMQ ST'i'lAllK-AUTG-MOBELE T? PLAIWTE.

Jleeei'i seii Serial 1%. meme.

of upright we tube sections orunits assembled together compact relation and inclosezl Within ii'ect-ery lined casing or housing. The ilflilslllg consists of the side, end owl wells 10 having refractory linings elm; disposed in rectangular relation. This housing is divided into two compartments by means of the refractory partition 10 whi terminates short of 1118 top wall so as to provide at the top a communicating; passage between the two compartments. Each com pertinent contains a group oitubesectienm one group containing about twice "bhe n her of tubes the other group and cone Eating the Steam genereaing group. The smaller group serves the economize-1' oi. feezi waver hes-tee group. The lower of the lai ger compartment is entirely i clcsecl hy e i'eii'zictory firepoi l3 'i OlTfi'ln r combustion chamber within which .21, J c O1 atomized mixture of liqigid fuel, such as kerosene, and air is burned. The heuieci proclucts of combustion rise directly upwmii in the larger coi'npertmen'c around the Water cubes. tiou Well sn alley coiupartmei: t h ere the e imiiniug heat units are eiseiheii e Meter in the tubes in this comp-s l herd; the feerl Wfilifil'. he mist si'applieii to the combustion chamber, in structure shown by means of a spray? ntomizing mechanism B which oscie -eicl chamber oi; one eml ofthe his fuel spraying mechanism uui'es psiticulei? description except to say he iiquici fuel is sprayed or stomizwl i he air from a blower 15 which also sup- A lies all of the air necessary so suppers plete combustion of the fuei. Th hie is clrivee by e small electric mote;- 16 mouse eel chereon and supplied with current iii" m battery 1''? or other source carried hy the vehicle, this battery having one its "sermina o grcimdecl {it 1'? and its other miiml connected by conciuctoi' 18 throw" operetcifs controlling switch ii, one minal 20 of the meson The other Qesminei of she motes is grouncleol Th" "hens gases iacl thence downwm'dlv The water tube sections or units each con sists of a plurality parallel upright'tubes integrally connected to common upper and lower headers 26 and 2? respectively. These units are. suitably supported side by side in the compartments ofthe casing. The upper headers of the econoinizer group in the smaller compartment are connected to a conu'non water manifold 28, while the lower headers of said group are connected to a coinn'ion water manifold 29. In like mannerthe lower headers of the large group are connected to a common water nmnifold 30, and the upper headers to a common steam manifold The water is supplied from a suit able water tank to the lower water manifold 555) through the pipe 32 by means of a suitable pump, and from thence the water rises in the economize-i: group to the upper inanifold 2S, thence through a connecti 11;; pipe 33 to the lower water manifold 30 of the steam generator group. The water in these. tubes to a level indicated by the dotted lines which in practice is preferably somewhat above half the height of the tubes. This provides large number of small columns of water directly subject to the heat of coinlnistion of the fuel, and above the water level the tubes form a plurality of steam zones which supply steam to the inanifold 31 a; l thence to the engine through the pi pc 36. he water level is in practice main tained substantially constant, preferably a1 tou'ia-tically by means of a suitable reguinto. provided for the purpose.

In the structure of this character abnormal conditions of temperature or steam ressurc are likely to arise to the-damage of the structure and in order to protect against such conditions provide mecha nism which automatically responsive to these abnormal conditions and operates to discontinue the fuel burning mechanism until such conditions are relieved. In one of the headers 27 preferably of one of the middle sections) 1 provide a thermostatic 7 element l0 so that it will be directly subject to the heat from the combustion chamber. This th rmostatic element consists of an e):- pansible rod ll positioned concentrically in said lower header and extending substantially the entire length thereof. The rod how ever is contained within a non-expansible tube ll so' that the end of the rod may be extended from the header to operate the cutoff mechanism and at the same time seal the header against leakage. One end il of the thermostatic rod is tl'lreaded into the come spending end of the tube to seal the end of the tube and also anchor the end of the rod. The otl1cr end of therod extends through and beyond the end of, the header to operate the cut-old" mechanism.

One end of the tube welded or otherwise fastened a screw plug: 441 and this plug 1S screwed into the adjusted.

enlarged endylfZ of the header so as to firmly anchor this end of the tube. The tube however is supported at its inner end centrally of the header by screws -13 of which there are three disposed at 120 apart, but these screws do not interfere with the longitudinal movement of the thermostatic rod in the tube. The rod normally is of course submerged in the water in the header, but in the event that the water level reaches a dangerously low point the eXpansion or elongation of the rod will, as hereinafter explained cut oil the fuel burning mechanism. This dangerously low point is determined by making the tube section which contains the thermostatic element shorter than the other sect-ions, thus raising its lower header and the thermostat somewhere above the plane of the, lower headers of the remaining secv tions. This insures the single thern'lost-at section header becoming dry before any of the other sections, and hence insures the operation of the thermostat before the water level becomes dangerously low in the other sections. This is true even though the generator might at the time be in an inclined position, as when the automobile is running up or down a steep grade. On the other hand if the thermostat header was in the same plane as the other headers, the tilting or inclining of the generator would empty some of the other headers, particularly the headers farthest from the center of the structure, without affecting the thermostat.

The end of the thermostat rod has a small button 46 at its end suitably insulated by the insulating material 17 so the heat of the rod will not be transmitted to'the operating parts. This end of the rod operates against one arm 48 of a three-arm rocking lever which is journaled on a transverse shaft 49 supported by the cars or side webs 50 of a bracket 51, the bracket being bolted to the side of the generator casing. The arm 48 carries a screw 52 the end of which directly bears against the end of the thermostat rod so that the relation between the thermostat and the arm may be accurately Another arm 53 of the lever is considerably longer and serves as a switch. It carries a contact screw 54 which is arranged to engage a similar stationary contact screw 55 mounted in a lug 56 of the supporting bracket. Both of these contact screws are properly insulated from their respeotive mountings, and both have nuts on their opposite ends to form binding posts to which connection may be made. I also provide a stationary binding post 55 to which one end of the motor circuit conductor is connectedmnd this binding post is connected by the flexible conductor 55* to the switch The contacts e325 maintained normally en- 6. The combination of a steam generator headers, one 01 the plane to r 5 said generator, and a thermostat associated -w1th said elevated header ICSPUDSIYG to a predetern'lined Water level in said generator for rendering said burner ineffective, and means associated with said thermostat responsive to a predetermined steam pressure for ren- 10 dering the burner ineffective.

Signed by me at Detroit, Mich, this 23rd day of August, 1917.

ABNER DOBLE; 

